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Poverty is bad for health in many dimensions, so the question ‘does increased trade reduce poverty?’ is an important one. Despite huge research efforts over the last two decades we still do not have a definitive general answer. That is because there is none. Rather than seek one, the job of researchers is to understand … Continued

PETRA is pleased to announce the publication of its research and development manifesto. It identifies the gaps and priorities for future research over the next five to ten years to investigate how trade and investment agreements (TIAs) could help tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at source. This manifesto is the result of a lengthy process of … Continued

On 13 January 2022, the UK opened trade talks with India. Unless a different approach is adopted to the UK’s trade strategy, there is little prospect of a deal with India doing any more to tackle climate change or non-communicable diseases (NCDs) than the agreement signed with Australia in December 2021. Campaigners have branded that … Continued

The Cambridge Dictionary defines manifesto as “a written statement of the beliefs, aims, and policies of an organization, especially a political party.” Hmmm. PETRA is, quite clearly, not a political party. It is an interdisciplinary expert network set up to look at whether trade policy and trade and investment agreements could be used to tackle … Continued

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. (Nelson Mandela) Pondering my learning from PETRA’s joint webinar with the UK Public Health Network on the public health implications of trade and investment laws, I … Continued

Prof Amandine Garde, Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool Law School and Director of the Law and NCD Unit, looks at international economic law and human rights law perspectives on childhood obesity. Her new book discusses the potential of human rights law to regulate the food industry as well as the principle of … Continued

  Every aspect of global health policy must now be reconsidered from the perspective of AP (After the Pandemic), although the pandemic of course is still with us.  One of the pandemic’s early lessons was the fragility of a profit-oriented system for vaccine development.   Before the pandemic, there were only four major transnational vaccine producers, … Continued

As part of its work programme, PETRA has been tasked with developing an interdisciplinary research framework (or “manifesto”) on the intersection between trade and health and wellbeing. We developed plans for a series of intelligence-gathering workshops to hear views from researchers, the third sector, and policymakers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A sandpit … Continued